


Diminished Return

by Xandad



Category: Touhou Project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:26:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27113273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xandad/pseuds/Xandad
Summary: A humble chat between a gatekeeper and guardian.
Kudos: 9





	Diminished Return

"Hey, Elly."

"What is it Kurumi?" 

"Do you remember what the stars look like?"

It's a tough question to answer, because frankly, it's been a handful of years since anything has shone on Mugenkan. Since the incident incited by the mansion's former owner, in the few years since, it has undergone a lot of change. Without a word or warning, the master had fled, leaving behind her eccentric gatekeeper and an astray vampire behind. An astonishingly cruel act, putting so much responsibility on two people not quite prepared for it. It's a duty that must be fulfilled, however, as the border between reality and all realms of fantasy cannot fall into the wrong hands.

"Truth be told, I cannot, despite being alive all these years, the memory has since dwindled in just these few," Elly responds, sitting back on the mansion's roof, pulling her brimmed hat back to better gaze at the black abyss above. Only the mansion's run-down lamps and inner lighting prove that anything exists in front of them. Multiple changes to the outside world have had their effect on Mugenkan, as various incidents within or around Youkai Mountain have had their domino effect. The entrance to the Lake of Blood was sealed and the lake had dried up, forcing Kurumi to dwell within its depths and seek asylum in the mansion she solemn visited. In the end, Mugenkan was shrouded in dull, apocalyptic field of sediment, coated completely by the mountain.

"Figures," Kurumi replies, a hint of defeat in her voice, "even as a vampire, I get tired of looking at blackness." Her gaze matches Elly's, looking up to the sheer nothingness. She hunches forward, sitting with her head in her hands and her wings folded. Even with her limited visits, she still remembers there being a much fonder view. In her mind, a blur of sparkles and refractive blue crystals is all she can recall. The pair sit in silence for a few moments, staring at nothing and trying to conjure up something. It's a dull but familiar part of their day. Or night. It looks like this all the time now, so a clock is as good as useless.

"You ever think someone's gonna come for us?" Kurumi continues, looking at the shadowy figure of Elly next to her, thankful for the woman's pompous white hat.

"If they did, they'd be an intruder, and we'd have to defeat them," Elly says, tapping her foot against the shingles, "I doubt we'd succeed, but it's what we must do." Elly says this with a sorrowful tone, having accepted this fate when the two were forced to encounter it.

"I suppose you're right," Kurumi states, bring her knees into her chest and hanging her head low, "don't know how they'd muck through, that, though." She throws up a hand to point at the sky, noting the seemingly impenetrable darkness. Obviously, she hopes someone, anyone, would come bursting through and give them a way out. Or at least her, she doubts Elly would ever abandon her post. As dutiful as the other woman is, Kurumi doubts Elly would have much to say if she left to be a free spirit outside of Mugenkan and the mountain. Yet, even this late into their entrapment, Kurumi can barely tell what runs through Elly's mind anymore.

"Hey, Kurumi," Elly says, shocking Kurumi enough to sit up straight, "do you think she'll come back?"

A name doesn't even have to be mentioned. The both of them know who Elly is referring to, a woman whose bizarre escapades led to all of this in the first place. It's impossible that a day goes by where the name Yuuka Kazami doesn't appear in either of their minds, especially Elly's.

"I stand by that if she cared enough, she would have never left," Kurumi says, trying to withhold the anger in her voice, "if she ever showed her face again I'd show her what for."

"Perhaps she knew this was going to strike soon and had to go," Elly states, radiating despondence, "surely there is a reason."

"There better have been a reason that she couldn't have just told us," Kurumi replies, clenching her skirt in slowly bubbling rage, "this place was gonna get buried so there's no need to have someone guard it, but here we are."

"Still too much of a risk, I bet she was quite aware," Elly says, leaning forward with tears in her eyes. Ever since Yuuka's departure, she'd gotten to the denial stage of grief and never left. She's too stubborn to abandon a post that is no longer needed and will not venture on the border of fantasy to escape. Mugenkan's metaphysical properties are still intact, yet Kurumi and Elly fear getting entranced as whose to say their fantasies aren't any less cruel than this reality. The two live near-immortal lives and cling to the hope that they'll taste their separate freedoms before the long encroaching hand of death wraps around their necks.

Kurumi stands up in frustration, getting ready to leave as she can never handle Elly when she gets like this. Suddenly, Elly joins her and turns heel, walking to the very top of the roof. 

"I'm sure she's looking at the stars tonight," Elly states, tilting her head straight up to be reintroduced to nothingness, "and when we see her again, I hope she tells us what they were like."

**Author's Note:**

> Just something I've had half-done in drafts for a bit. Lotus Land Story is such a cool game with some of my favorite characters, I pray the rest manage to get out just like Yuuka. However, as it stands, perhaps the rest have met a more tragic end.


End file.
